Christmas Through My Eyes -- Dec. 18th

December 18th -- Baking with my boyfriend

One of my favorite hobbies is baking and I find it especially fun throughout the Christmas season. I enjoy baking by myself, but my boyfriend Antonio makes a great assistant in the kitchen. Throughout the year (but even more at Christmas) Antonio and I bake cookies, pies, cakes, brownies -- pretty much anything that's relatively easy but sometimes we do like to get a little crazy. He is my absolute favorite person to bake with, even though his job is usually preheating the oven, helping with decorating sometimes and doing the dishes after. 

Specifically around the holidays my favorite thing to bake is Christmas cookies -- what a surprise! I love the classic Pillsbury slice and bake ones with the little trees, snowmen, and reindeer on them and chocolate chip of course, but when the holidays come around I have some really special favorites. I always used to bake with my mom and grandma when I was younger and grandma had specific cookies she had to make each year -- chocolate chip, cherry winx, Italian Christmas cookies, oatmeal raisin, and thumb prints were the main ones, but sometimes she threw in some others. Even though I never made them growing up I absolutely love snickerdoodles and gingerbread cookies too, and they are truly the flavors of Christmas. Tonight in fact, Antonio and I baked sugar cookies and I always modify the recipe to kind of make it my own. I'll let you in on a hint -- I really love cinnamon. 

Baking has always brought me great joy and the fact that I get to do it all the time with my boyfriend makes it all the more special. It's a way for us to carry on a tradition that I had when I was a kid and we always share all the treats we bake together with loved ones. His mom actually started buying mixes for cakes, cookies, and brownies and leaves them out for when I come over, which I absolutely love. Especially during Christmas baking is one of my favorite times to slow down, enjoy the moment, and spend time with the ones I love.